Valued Living Assessment VLQfree self-assessment
This questionnaire is for self-understanding and reference only and cannot be used to make a clinical diagnosis.
About this assessment
The Valued Living Questionnaire, or VLQ, comes from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, or ACT. It does not ask how happy you are and it does not require you to set a grand life goal. Instead, it asks a very practical question: have the things you say matter to you actually been present in your recent life? We may know that family, health, friendship, or growth are important, yet look back at the week and find that nearly all our time went to work and obligations. That does not mean you have done anything wrong. Life can gradually pull us away from the directions we value. The VLQ helps make that distance more visible.
What does it look at?
The questionnaire covers ten areas of life: family, intimate relationships, parenting, friends, work, education, recreation, spirituality or faith, community participation, and physical self-care. For each area, you answer two questions: how important it is to you and how consistent your actions have been with that value over the past week. The point is not to compare yourself with other people, but to notice where there is a gap between what matters to you and the life you have actually been living.
This assessment may suit you if...
- You are busy every day but have started wondering whether the things keeping you busy are really the things that matter most.
- You know that family, health, or friendships are important, but realise that you have not made real time for them for a long while.
- You want to rethink your priorities and would like the next step to be concrete and practical.
Learn more
How long does it take?
What if an area does not apply to me, for example if I do not have children?
References
Wilson, K. G., Sandoz, E. K., Kitchens, J., & Roberts, M. (2010). The Valued Living Questionnaire: Defining and measuring valued action within a behavioral framework. The Psychological Record, 60(2), 249–272.
Hayes, S. C., Luoma, J. B., Bond, F. W., Masuda, A., & Lillis, J. (2006). Acceptance and commitment therapy: Model, processes and outcomes. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 44(1), 1–25.
A-Tjak, J. G. L., Davis, M. L., Morina, N., Powers, M. B., Smits, J. A. J., & Emmelkamp, P. M. G. (2015). A meta-analysis of the efficacy of acceptance and commitment therapy for clinically relevant mental and physical health problems. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, 84(1), 30–36.
- Hong Kong study
UBS (2015). Prices and earnings 2015: Do I earn enough for the life I want?. UBS Prices and Earnings report, 2015 edition.
- Hong Kong study
AXA Hong Kong (2024). AXA Study of Mind Health and Wellbeing 2024: Hong Kong findings. AXA Mind Health Study, 2024 edition.
A quick tip
There are no right or wrong answers. Choose the response that best reflects how you genuinely feel.